Rhizogens.J 



RAFFLESIACEiE. 



93 



Order XXVIII. RAFFLESIACE^E.— Patmaworts. 



Rafflesiacese, Endlicher Melekmata, p. 14. (1832); Gen. x\\. Meisner, p. 367 ; R. Brown in Linn 



Tra)is. 19. 241, 



DiAGNOsrs. — Stemless and stalhless ; flowers 5-parted, sessile on the branches of trees, 

 solitary, with anthers opening by pores, and innumerable ovides groioing over parietal 

 placentce. 



Stemless plants, consisting merely of flowers growing immediately from the sm-face 

 of branches, and immersed among scales ; flowers hermaphrodite, or dioecious. Perianth 



superior, globose or campanulate ; the hmb 

 5-parted, with the segments imbricated or 

 doubled mwards in aestivation ; the throat 

 surrounded by calli, which are either distinct 

 1 or run together into an entii'e rmg. Column 

 (synema) hypocraterifomn or sub-globose, ad- 

 hering to the tube of the perianth ; anthers 

 numerous, distinct, or somewhat connate, ad- 

 hering by the base, in one row ; 2-celled, \vith 

 the cells opposite, and each opening by a ver- 

 tical aperture, or concentrically many-celled 

 with a common pore. Ovary inferior, 1 -celled, 

 with many-seeded parietal placentae ; styles 

 conical, equal in number to the placen- 

 tae, run together ^^^thin the column, but pro- 

 3 jecting beyond it, and then distmct. Fruit, 

 an indehiscent pericarp, with an infinite mul- 

 titude of seeds. [Embryo undi\dded, with or 

 without albumen. — R. Brown.'] 



These extraordinary plants have no stems 

 whatever, but consist of flowers only, supported 

 by scales m room of leaves. Among them is the very remarkable species described by 

 Brown in the i;3th vol. of the Linnean Society's Transactions, under the name of Raffle- 

 sia, to which those may be referi'ed who are desirous either of knowing what is the 

 stmcture of one of the most anomalous of vegetables, or of finding a model of botanical 

 investigation and sagacity, or of considting one of the most beautiful specimens of botanical 

 analysis which Francis Bauer ever made. They differ from the Cistusrapes in havmg 

 no proper stem, in their anthers being porous,' and in their flower, which constitutes 

 the whole plant, being divided by 5, hke Exogens, mstead of 2 or 3, like Endogens. An 

 affinity has been suggested withBirthworts,to which this Oi'der seems to have no unme- 

 diate relationship. 



Natives of the East Indies, on the stems of Cissi ; or of South America, on the branches 

 of leguminous plants. 



Rafflesia Patma is employed in Java as a powerful styptic, in relaxation or debility of 

 the urino-genital apparatus, and Brugmansia seems to possess similar quahties. 



Fig. LXVIII. 



GENERA. 



*RAFFLBSE.5E, R. B) 



Rafflesia, R. Br. 

 Sapria, Griffith. 



I Brugmansia, Blutne. 



Zippelia, Rchb. 

 I Mycetanthe, Rchb . 



1**Apodantheje, R. JBr.lPilostyles, Guillein. 

 Apodanthes, Poit. Frostia, Bert. 



Numbers. Gen. 5. Sp. 16. 



Aristolochiacece ? 

 Position.— Balanophoraceae — Rafflesiace^. — Cytmacese. 



Fig. LXVIII.— Pilostyles Berterii $• I. A vertical section of a flower; 2. a young flower bursting 

 through the bark ; 3. a head of stamens- 



